Wiki / Threats
The Iron Widow
Something still runs on the old line. An engine that grew legs: eight of them, black iron, a cracked porcelain face and eyes that burn violet. You hear the whistle before you see it, and when it is close the night itself seems to get darker. It is a Mimic (see The Mimics): Engine 1919 sat cold in the Ashgrove spur yard for sixty years, and every child in Diersville was told she comes down the line for anyone still outside after ten. The night the forest burned, her whistle blew. The Rift had heard the story.
How it works
- YOU WILL NOT SEE IT COMING. It arrives dark and silent and creeps up behind you while you are not looking. Look its way and it goes still in the dark. Turn around and find it close, or let it get right behind you, and it lights up and screams. Listen for skittering legs.
- It only comes at night, between 22:00 and 02:00, and there is only ever ONE on the map. It comes for the biggest group of players.
- Early on it is rare: one night in twenty (day 20, 40, 60 ...). Once your group reaches game stage 150 it prowls every night.
- WHISTLE: it rears up and screams. Anyone close feels it in their bones: stamina comes back a little slower for a few seconds.
- CHARGE: it hisses, stops dead, then runs straight at you. Get out of its line. A hit crushes and knocks you down.
- STEAM: get too close to its face and it blasts scalding steam in front of it (a light burn, not a killer).
- IN A CAR: it will chase you, tailing about 10 feet behind your bumper. Stop for more than a couple of seconds and it creeps up behind you, rears up and hits the car. Keep moving or get ready to fight.
- It tears through walls and doors harder than any zombie: a base is no place to hide from it.
- At 02:00 it whistles one last time and leaves. A boss bar shows its health while it is near.
Tips
- Before game stage 150 no single hit from it takes more than a quarter of your health (up to under half by GS 150), and armor lowers that further. It wears you down; it does not one-shot you.
- Bullets do 20% less to it than melee does. It gets tougher with every extra player near (+35% health each, up to +150%) and with your game stage.
- Strafe sideways when it stops and hisses: that is the charge coming.
- REWARDS: everyone within 80 m when it dies gets their own share in their pack (a full pack spills it at their feet): 2,500 Dukes, a Widow Core, about 2,500 rounds of mixed ammo, a medical kit (first aid kits, bandages, splints, painkillers, antibiotics, steroids), end game crafting stock (Duskiron Ingots, legendary parts, forged steel, electrical and mechanical parts, springs, Rift Shards, Demon Horns and a Gargoyle Heart or Cairn Plate), the Widow's Whistle trophy and 5 Hollow Marks. Its wreck leaves the Firebox Hoard: Duskiron, AP ammo, legendary parts, a chance at a top weapon, and the Widow Core (a Hollow Core for chest armor: run faster, sprint for less stamina, never knocked down).